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Back in 1992, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs had a quiet opening of $147,839 from 19 theaters. In 1994, Pulp Fiction opened to $9,311,882. In 1997, Jackie Brown opened to $9,292,248. Kill Bill Vol. 1 opened to $22,089,322 in 2003, followed by Kill Bill Vol. 2 earning $25,104,949 in its opening in 2004. The Hateful Eight opened wide at the tail end of 2015 and earned $15,706,645.

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CAA Now Strapped To Packaging War In Writer’s Rip-Off Lawsuit Over ‘Main Justice’ Pilot

Any notion that CAA may have had that former prosecutor John Musero’s lawsuit over the alleged appropriation of his Main Justice project was going to be an easy win has now become a far rougher justice.

Penciled in for a jury trial start date of June 8 next year, the ex-The Newsroom staff writer has come out swinging this week against the uber-agency’s desire to see his March-launched action against them and agents Andrew Miller and Leah Yerushalaim tossed – and his Doniger/Burroughs lawyers are invoking a far larger problem that CAA and the other Big 4 agencies are facing.

“This case exists against the backdrop of a major battle—including litigation—between the Writers Guild of America (“WGA”) and the four major talent agencies regarding systematic fiduciary duty breaches by the agencies against their writer-clients,” a July 23 opposition by Musero to CAA’s May demurrer motion (read it here). “By signing with CAA, Musero placed his trust in Defendants to use their judgment and expertise to act in his best interest, and to always put his interest ahead of their own,” the scribe’s attorneys state in the recent filing as they await an August 5 hearing in LA. Superior Court on the motion. “For three years, Musero relied on Defendants exclusively to act as his advocates with respect to his career as a writer. Unfortunately, they did not do so.”

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CAA today did not respond to request for comment on the new filing.

“Musero submitted television show projects to Defendants to pitch on his behalf, and yet Defendants used those properties primarily for the benefit of their larger clients, ultimately receiving Musero’s treatment for a show about the Attorney General’s office styled Main Justice and then developing a remarkably similar show about the Attorney General’s Office also called Main Justice with a larger client, Jerry Bruckheimer’s company, and negotiating a packaged deal with CBS for that project after becoming aware that CBS was previously interested in Musero’s Main Justice project,” this week’s effort to keep the suit alive states, reiterating the bullet points of the case.

Then the magic damning dots are connected, so to speak.

“Musero is informed and believes that Defendants misappropriated his Main Justice, and that the sale of Bruckheimer’s Main Justice was a packaged deal involving CAA clients,” the 15-page opposition throws out there of the project that saw ex-Attorney General Eric Holder partnered with the Top Gun EP.

“While the offending Main Justice was ultimately not picked up by CBS, and its pilot never aired, the show was publicly announced, and CBS cast and produced the pilot for millions of dollars. Thus, by selling a competing project under the same title about the same thing, agent Miller foreclosed any possibility of the prior project he had represented and commissioned, Musero’s Main Justice, being sold.”

AKA – CAA threw me under the bus for a bigger clients and left me damaged goods in the process.

Clearly Musero is not the first writer to connect his dilemmas with his reps to a larger conflict splintering Hollywood – but he seems to be the first one doing it in the courts individually. On the macro level, there have been a slew of lawsuits, responses and new suits from the WGA to CAA, WME, UTA and ICM Partners and back piling up in the courts since the Guild instructed its members over 100 days ago to start firing their agents over the wide spread and lucrative practice of packaging.

However, after being essentially curb stomped with accusations of a “fatally vague” case by Lewis Brisbois partner Craig Holden in CAA’s late May backlash, Musero and his team know that their claims of self interested behavior (imagine that!) on the part of agencies carry extra weight in this particular time in Hollywood.

“Plaintiff’s complaint is a factually detailed pleading which sets forth plainly understandable claims against Defendants,” Musero’s filing point-blankly declares. “Yet through this demurrer Defendants seek to hold Plaintiff to an improperly high fact-pleading standard while misrepresenting the holding of cases that actually support the viability of Plaintiff’s claims,” his lawyers noted. “Accordingly, the instant demurrer should be denied in its entirety.”

With a Guild election fast approaching and more legal moves among the big boys coming soon, let’s see where this all is come August 4.

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Andrea Riseborough To Star In Michael Morris’ Real-Life-Inspired Drama ‘To Leslie’

EXCLUSIVE: Andrea Riseborough has boarded To Leslie, which Bloodline EP Michael Morris will direct off Ryan Binaco’s screenplay which is inspired by the life of his mother.

Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady of BCDF Pictures are producers along with Kelsey Law. Binaco is also executive producing.

Riseborough will play Leslie, a West Texas single mother who won the lottery and squandered it just as fast, leaving behind a world of heartbreak. Years later, with her charm running out and nowhere to go, she fights to rebuild her life and find redemption.

“Ever since we worked together on Bloodline I knew that Andrea would be the ideal person to play Leslie,” said Morris. “Andrea is totally committed to the truth. She thinks incredibly deeply about the smallest moments and as an actress she is constantly surprising, challenging and fearless.”

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Riseborough can next be seen starring in Stefano Sollima’s true-crime drug series ZeroZeroZero for Amazon, as the lead in Nicolas Pesce’s reboot of The Grudge for Sony and in Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller, Possessor. Earlier this year, she appeared in Lone Scherfig’s The Kindness of Strangers which opened the Berlin Film Festival, and in 2018 received critical acclaim for her role as the title character in Nancy, a film which she produced under her production banner, Mother Sucker. Her other film and television credits include The Death of Stalin, Black Mirror, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Best Picture Oscar winner Birdman.

Morris just directed the pilot of Netflix’s upcoming Locke & Key. He most recently helmed episodes of Better Call Saul, Preacher, and Halt and Catch Fire for AMC, and 13 Reasons Why for Netflix. His episodic directing credits also include Billions and Shameless for Showtime as well as House of Cards and Bloodline for Netflix among others.

BCDF has recently been developing an array of book franchises for film and TV, including New York Times Bestseller The Language of Flowers which will star Kiersey Clemons and Nick Robinson; bestseller The Hating Game, which shoots in August with Lucy Hale and Robbie Amell starring; runaway International Bestseller The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry starring Naveen Andrews; Marie Lu’s #1 NYT bestselling sci-fi series Legend; NYT bestselling supernatural romance series Hush, Hush and romance-comedy bestseller Can You Keep a Secret?  which comes out this September with Alexandra Daddario starring. Deadline exclusively reported this week that Vertical Entertainment acquired the movie. 

Riseborough is repped by CAA, Independent Talent Group, Untitled Entertainment, and attorney Patti Felker. Morris is repped by UTA and Paul Hastings. Binaco is repped by Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman. BCDF is repped by Sheri Jeffrey at Hogan Lovells.

MPAA Promotes Five In Ops Streamlining; Patrick Kilcur To Lead U.S. Government Affairs

The MPPA promoted five executives on Thursday, the latest moves at the global film and TV industry trade group that has been revamping its global operations since May, when the organization upped Gail MacKinnon to Senior EVP Global Policy & Government Affairs.

MPAA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin said Thursday in an internal memo to staff that Patrick Kilcur has been promoted from SVP Federal Affairs to EVP, and will now lead all U.S. Government Affairs under MacKinnon. Ben Staub, Alicia Leahy and Peter Tzeng will continue reporting to Kilcur, while Vans Stevenson, Neil Fried, Anissa Brennan and Greg Saphier will newly report to Kilcur.

“Over the past five years, Patrick has proven to be an effective advocate for the MPAA as evidenced by his reputation in Washington, D.C among policy makers and our Members,” Rivkin wrote. “Coupled with his experience on Capitol Hill, I am confident that Patrick will excel in this new role and enhance the value of our domestic advocacy for our Member Companies.”

Meanwhile, Urmila Venugopalan is being promoted to EVP Strategy & Global Operations, where she will “continue to drive more consistency across all our operations in key markets as well as support our global advocacy and strategic initiatives by taking on responsibility for Worldwide Research, Human Resources, and Facilities & Administration,” Rivkin said.

Jason Monagas, Julia Jenks and Debi Bois will now report directly to Venugopalan, who had been SVP Strategy, Chief of Staff. Monagas was promoted to SVP Human Resources & Operations, with Kathy Grant, Theresa Lazzarino and Javier Valencia now reporting to him.

In Brussels, the MPAA upped Emilie Anthonis and Okke Delfos Visser to SVP in the Policy and Legal departments, respectively.

Molly Yeh Signs Multi-Platform Food Network Deal, Including New Episodes Of ‘Girl Meets Farm’

Food Network has signed a multi-platform deal with Molly Yeh that includes new episodes of her daytime series Girl Meets Farm and content across all digital platforms. Network president Courtney White announced the deal Thursday.

Yeh is a food blogger, bestselling cookbook author and the James Beard Award-nominated host of the series.

In the return of Girl Meets Farm, currently in production and scheduled to premiere September 8 at 11 AM ET/PT, Yeh welcomes viewers to her Midwest farmhouse for quick and easy recipes on treats and family favorites.

Planned episode themes for the upcoming season include new mom life, Oktoberfest, Halloween, Midwest potluck, Friendsgiving and party bites.

Yeh is the author of the cookbook Molly on the Range and creator of the food and lifestyle brand my name is yeh. After getting married, she relocated with her husband to a sugar beet farm in the upper Midwest where she currently resides with their 4-month-old daughter.

Girl Meets Farm premiered in 2018 and just a year later Yeh received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Culinary Host and a James Beard Award nomination for Outstanding Personality/Host.

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Keir O’Donnell Joins ‘Project Blue Book’; ‘Blindspot’ Casts Julee Cerda

Keir O’Donnell (Wedding Crashers) is set for a recurring role on the second season of History’s hit UFO drama series Project Blue Book, from A+E Studios and executive producer Robert Zemeckis. Starring Aidan Gillen and Michael Malarkey, Project Blue Book is based on the true, top-secret investigations into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and related phenomena conducted by the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s and 60s. Neal McDonough, Michael Harney, Laura Mennell and Ksenia Solo also star. O’Donnell will play Even William Blake, a charmingly eccentric alien enthusiast with a religious dedication to his weekly U.F.O meetings. He takes a liking to Mimi Hynek and, thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of everything extraterrestrial, quickly becomes friend, confidant, and premier informer to Project Blue Book’s best behind-the-scenes agent. O’Donnell’s recent TV credits include Legion and Ray Donovan, and on the big screen he has appeared in Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up and American Sniper, among others. He’s repped by Silver Lining Entertainment.

Julee Cerda (The Loudest Voice) is joining the Season 5 cast of NBC’s Blindspot in a recurring role. Blindspot, from Warner Bros. TV, started off with a beautiful woman (Jaime Alexander) with no memories of her past being found naked in Times Square with her body fully covered in intricate tattoos. Her discovery sets off a vast and complex mystery that immediately ignites the attention of the FBI. Cerda will play Ivy Sands. Further character details are being kept under wraps Cerda was most recently seen in Showtime’s The Loudest Voice, as Wendi Deng, Rubert Murdoch’s (Simon McBurney) younger wife. On the big screen she’ll next be seen in Joker. Her other TV credits include Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Kevin Can Wait and Billions. Cerda is repped by The M.E.T. Group and Take 3 Talent.

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Criterion’s 1000th Title Revealed To Be An Epic 15 Film ‘Godzilla’ Boxset — Watch The Trailer Announcement

After plenty of speculation and buildup over the past few days, the wait is over. We’re not talking about a long-awaited release date or first footage for an anticipated movie, but rather which film would have the distinction of gracing Criterion’s so-called spine No. 1000. The answer? The kaiju king.

The Criterion Collection – the curators of classic taste for contemporary movie-watchers – announced on Thursday that the OG Godzilla himself is getting the preservation treatment this fall. His earliest adventures as a walking cautionary tale for amassing nuclear power being collected for the first time ever in a box set of Showa-era films.

The announcement came with a trailer for the massive box set, which will be released Oct. 29 with a vibrant pop-art look that manages to capture the king of monsters’ pop-culture footprint perfectly. Criterion is pulling out all the stops for the milestone product, amassing all 15 (!!!) Godzilla films released from 1954 to 1975 on Blu-Ray, including the first film, 1963’s “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” 1964’s “Mothra vs. Godzilla” and 1968’s “Destroy All Monsters.”

The sheer volume of films included with the gorgeously illustrated hardcover book is an impressive addition to the Criterion library, but it wouldn’t be a Criterion addition without some enticing supplemental material. Included in this one, according to Criterion, are prior interviews with director Ishiro Honda, a program on the films’ visual effects and an “illustrated audio essay from 2011 about the real-life tragedy that inspired ‘Godzilla.”

Suffice to say: We’re impressed, even by Criterion standards. The price is an expectedly hefty one at nearly $180. But we’d say that’s a small price to pay for what is essentially a cinematic syllabus for a core piece of Japanese movie history. Least of all one that Western filmmakers have diluted the substance of over the past two decades with its own interpretations of the atomic breath-spewing reptile.

The big guy used to be about more than blockbuster spectacle, and Criterion is now paying perfect homage to, as it appropriately states, the “technical wizardry, fantastical storytelling and indomitable international appeal” that made him an icon.

The box set is available for pre-order now. Watch the “Look Inside Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975” video below.

‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Trailer: Danny McBride Lines Pews And Pockets In Upcoming HBO Series

It’s safe to say we’ve all seen them at least once or twice—especially, you perennial night owls. Wedged in amongst infomercials featuring a family decked out in Snuggies of all colors and actors masquerading as a host of medical professionals are multiple colorful characters in action. Guys with names like Peter Popoff—Benny Hinn—Robert Tilton. The sights and sounds of their programs are pretty common across the board, too— the laying on of hands to rid men and women of debilitating ailments—theses same people convulsing in fits on the ground— and the glorious aftermath in which all praise is given to God. Hallelujah!

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Scenes like this might as well be fresh out of a religious revival and constitute one aspect of the lifestyle of a televangelist. The lives of such individuals are exactly what executive producers Danny McBride and David Gordon Green (“Vice Principals”) are bringing to HBO with their new series “The Righteous Gemstones.” Speaking of revivals, McBride and Green are no slouches when it comes to something like this. Last year, the pair brought the boogeyman incarnate Michael Myers—someone not exactly in dire need of being brought back to life—with the 40-year remake/reboot “Halloween.”

Here is the official synopsis for the series:

The Righteous Gemstones follows “the world-famous Gemstone televangelist family, which has a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work, all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

McBride and Adam DeVine play brothers Jesse and Kelvin Gemstone, respectively, while Edi Patterson (“Vice Principals”) portrays Judy Gemstone, and John Goodman serves as the family’s patriarch, Eli Gemstone.

The series, McBride’s third on HBO, is set to premiere on August 18. Take a look at the trailer below and prepare to bear witness to the almighty power of “The Righteous Gemstones.” Testify!

Curing The Summer Blues With Notable Indies ‘The Farewell’ & ‘The Art Of Self-Defense’ [The Discourse Podcast]

Does the Summer Movie Season have you down? On the latest episode of The Discourse – the show in which we discuss film and television news, reviews, and any pertinent pop culture items that we feel the need to weigh-in on – we hope to cure some of those summertime blues.

The air in the discourse is that this summer has been one of the weaker ones in recent memory. Whether or not that is the case, we hope to at least attempt to reverse that sentiment. This week, I’m joined by Matthew Monagle (Austin Chronicle, Film School Rejects) to discuss two films that are playing in either limited or wide release that are both sophomore efforts from promising filmmakers. We start with “The Farewell,” the A24-released dramedy from Lulu Wang that stars Awkwafina as a young Chinese-American who discovers that her grandmother is dying of cancer and her family chooses not to tell her. We dive into the film’s cultural specificity, but also its universal relatability, and praise Wang’s direction, the performances all the way around, and agree that it is one of the best films of the year.

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We then pivot over to “The Art of Self-Defense” a dark comedy about a young man (Jesse Eisenberg) who is accosted in an alley – afraid to stick up for himself – and decides to take karate classes to combat his timid demeanor. The film speaks volumes to 2019 in its topic of toxic masculinity (embodied in a delicious performance from Alessandro Nivola as the psychotic instructor), and even though we both have plenty of qualms with the film, its inarguably unique and has a ton of factors that work in its favor.

All shows and episodes are a part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes Adjust Your Tracking, Be Reel, Indie Beat, and more – and can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and now on Spotify. To listen on this page, you can stream the podcast via the AnchorFM embed below or up top. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast as well as our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe, and drop us a comment or a rating as we do appreciate it. Thanks for listening.

Jeff Bridges To Star In FX Thriller Series ‘The Old Man’ From Creators Of ‘Black Sails’

Jeff Bridges joins the ever-growing list of A-list Hollywood legends making their debuts on prestige TV series. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of ‘Big Lebowski’ fans, it appears that Bridges will play someone that’s about the polar opposite of The Dude in “The Old Man.”

According to THR, Bridges has agreed to star in the upcoming FX series “The Old Man.” In the series, which is based on the novel by Thomas Perry, Bridges will portray a former CIA operative that is trying to enjoy his retirement off the grid. That all changes when he’s the target of a hit, and now, must come out of retirement to deal with the threat. Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine will write and produce the series. The duo was previously responsible for the period action series, “Black Sails.”

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FX president of originals Nick Grad said, “Jeff Bridges is an iconic, extraordinary actor and to have him as the star of this series is an incredible moment for FX. Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine have delivered an amazing pilot script and Jeff is perfect for the role of Dan Chase. We’re also happy to be working with Warren Littlefield, with whom we’ve had such a terrific partnership on ‘Fargo,’ along with our partners at Fox 21.”

As alluded to earlier, Bridges is probably best known for his role in the Coen Brothers’ ‘Big Lebowski.’ However, over the decades, the actor has starred in dozens of quality films, including winning an Oscar for his work in the film “Crazy Heart.” Lately, you can catch Bridges in films like “Bad Times at the El Royale,” “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” “Only the Brave,” and his Oscar-nominated role in “Hell or High Water.”

No word on when we might see “The Old Man” debut on FX, but production is expected to begin in the fall.

‘Tone-Deaf’ Trailer: Robert Patrick Wants To Kill Someone & Amanda Crew Is The Perfect Victim

Some movies, especially in the horror genre, fare better by not revealing too much of the movie’s plot to audiences through their trailers. It looks like “Tone-Deaf” is trying to follow suit.

The trailer finds Olive (Amanda Crew) in a bit of a slump. After being fired from her job, she’s in need of a little R&R. She escapes the city and finds solace in a countryside getaway, owned by the eccentric Harvey (Robert Patrick). One thing leads to another, and Harvey begins to pursue Olive in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

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Beyond that, it’s a little hard to say what the film is about — which makes it intriguing. Patrick bursts off the screen, exuding unhinged chaos in each of his scenes. The film’s trippy visuals only amplify this performance. Crew appears to be playing the now-common stereotype of a lazy and selfish Millennial. This gives the plot of “Tone-Deaf” the potential to be a dark cultural commentary or simply tired and unimaginative. It all hangs on what the larger story reveals itself to be.

“Tone-Deaf” is written and directed by Richard Bates, Jr. (“Trash Fire”). The rest of the cast includes Kim Delaney (“Chicago Fire”), AnnaLynne McCord (“90210”), Keisha Castle-Hughes (“Game of Thrones”), Hayley Marie Norman (“I Am the Night”), and Ray Wise (“Fresh Off the Boat”).

Here’s the official synopsis:

After losing her job and imploding her latest dysfunctional relationship, Olive (Amanda Crew) flees the city for the weekend, escaping to the countryside for some peace and self-reflection. She rents an ornate country house from an eccentric widower named Harvey (Robert Patrick). Soon two generations collide with terrifying results as Olive awakens Harvey’s homicidal tendencies and is plunged into a blood-soaked fight for her life.

“Tone-Deaf” drops in theaters and video-on-demand on August 23. Check out the trailer below.

‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Reaches $1 Billion Becoming Only The Second Sony Film Ever To Do So

Ever since the film debuted with almost $600 million worldwide, it was only a matter of time before “Spider-Man: Far From Home” crossed the $1 billion mark. And today, it’s projected to do just that (via THR).

Through Thursday, ‘Far From Home’ is expected to earn a total of $333 million at the domestic box office and another $672 million internationally, which would put the film right at $1.005 billion. Now, in the day and age of superhero record-breakers, the idea of another superhero film crossing $1 billion is hardly shocking. However, what makes this film so special is that not only is “Spider-Man: Far From Home” the first film in the franchise to cross the threshold, but it just so happens to be only the second film released by Sony to do that much box office.

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In an era where $1 billion films happen faster and faster, it’s shocking that Sony has only one other film that has been able to reach that mark. That film, 2012’s James Bond film “Skyfall,” earned a worldwide total of $1.1 billion. In 2017, the studio flirted with another $1 billion film, with “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” shocking everyone on its way to a $962 million total. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

So, now “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is the only other film to reach $1 billion at the box office for the studio. This ‘Spider-Man’ film easily beat the previous franchise best, “Spider-Man 3,” which earned $891 million back in 2007. ‘Far From Home’ also easily bested the last film in the series, ‘Homecoming’ and its $880 million gross.

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Why the big increase? Well, as with many things, rising tides lift all boats and the tide reached epic, record-breaking highs with “Avengers: Endgame” earlier this year. Considering that much of ‘Far From Home’ actually plays off the results of ‘Endgame,’ the new ‘Spider-Man’ film drew in a lot of folks that might not have paid to see the film in theaters. Not only that, many consider ‘Far From Home’ to be a superior film to ‘Homecoming,’ which itself helped re-establish Spidey as a quality franchise, yet again.

Overall, it’s another win for Marvel Studios, and the third film this year from the production company to reach $1 billion, with “Captain Marvel” and ‘Endgame’ doing the same thing. The film marks the 9th film in the MCU to reach the milestone, as well, out of 23 total films. Not a bad box office batting average, to say the least.

“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is in theaters now.

‘Ms. Purple’ Trailer: Filmmaker Justin Chon Returns With A New Family Drama

It feels fitting that as “The Farewell” dominates the limited release box office, focusing on a story about an Asian American dealing with her unique family dynamic and struggles that filmmaker Justin Chon is readying the release of his latest feature, “Ms. Purple,” which also focuses on an Asian American woman working out her family issues.

However, the simplistic description of the premise doesn’t do “Ms. Purple” justice. As you can see in the new trailer for the film, Chon’s drama deals with the emotional struggle a young woman has as her father’s live-in nurse quits unexpectedly, leaving the daughter to somehow provide the care her terminally-ill father needs, while also providing for the family in light of her mother’s absence. She enlists the help of her brother, and together, the siblings try their best to keep their little family together in Los Angeles.

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The film stars Tiffany Chu, Teddy Lee, Octavio Pizano, and James Kang. “Ms. Purple” is directed by Justin Chon, who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Dinh. Chon is a veteran actor that recently broke out as a director to watch out for thanks to his 2017 film “Gook.”

“Ms. Purple” will arrive in theaters on September 6 in Los Angeles before moving to New York the following week on September 13.

Here’s the synopsis:

From award-winning filmmaker Justin Chon (GOOK, 2017), MS. PURPLE is a poignant drama about sister and brother, Kasie (Tiffany Chu) and Carey (Teddy Lee), who were raised and are now seemingly stuck in Koreatown. Abandoned by their mother and brought up by their father, the siblings continue to struggle with profound emotional wounds from the difficulty of the parental dynamic. Now, with their father on his death bed, the estranged Carey comes home to help Kasie care for him. Old ties are renewed and a relationship restored in this vibrant, deeply affecting portrait of Asian American siblinghood in Los Angeles.

‘Twilight’ Director Catherine Hardwicke Set To Direct Female-Led Viking Film ‘Heathen’

Catherine Hardwicke’s last film, “Miss Bala,” might not have been the box office hit she was hoping for, but the veteran director isn’t going to stop making female-focused action films. According to a new report from THR, Hardwicke is next going to step behind the camera and direct the film “Heathen.”

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Based on the comic book series by creator Natasha Alterici, “Heathen” will tell the story Aydis, a young female Viking that comes out as queer, which makes her ostracized from the rest of her people. She then goes on a quest to right the wrongs of the patriarchal society of Vikings while on a mission to confront Odin. The script is written by Kerry Williamson, who is best known for the film “What Happened to Monday?”

As mentioned, Hardwicke’s last film was “Miss Bala,” but she’s probably best known as the filmmaker behind the hit drama “Thirteen” and the franchise-starting film, “Twilight.” However, since that latter film, the director has been vocal about her displeasure with how Hollywood treats female filmmakers and has spoken out about her own struggles with trying to succeed in the industry as a woman director.

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Most recently, Hardwicke helmed the pilot episode of the upcoming “Lost Boys” series. However, as was recently reported, that series is going back to the drawing board after recasting almost every major role, as the CW network reworks the series. She’s also in production on a new streaming series titled “Don’t Look Deeper,” which will debut on the new streaming service Quibi and stars Don Cheadle and Emily Mortimer.

No word on when we might expect “Heathen” to arrive in theaters.

Venice Comes Under Fire (Again) Due To Gender Disparity Among Competition Films After Signing A Pledge To Do Better Last Year

It was almost exactly a year ago that the Venice Film Festival found itself in hot water after it was revealed that only one female director was chosen to compete amongst the 21 competition films. The disparity led to Venice boss Alberto Barbera signing a pledge to continue to work towards better representation for women in the festival. Today, the 2019 lineup was unveiled and progress was made. Barely.

This year, out of the 21 competition films, only two were directed by females, with Haifaa Al Mansour’s “The Perfect Candidate” and Shannon Murphy’s “Babyteeth.” Sure, purely on a stats angle, that’s a 100% increase, but still a far cry from other festivals and a far cry from even Venice’s other programs.

READ MORE: ‘Ad Astra,’ ‘Joker,’ ‘Marriage Story,’ ‘The King’ Bowing At 2019 Venice Film Festival

The year’s first major international festival, Cannes, actually featured 5 female directors in its competition, which is more than double what is at Venice. And even in the 2019 Venice Critics’ Week program, almost half of the films are directed by women, which only provides an even bigger contrast for the official competition.

Perhaps making matters worse, at least in the eyes of some in the public, is the fact that this year’s low female representation is combined with the inclusion of Roman Polanski’s “J’Accuse.” The controversial filmmaker has found his decades-old rape conviction brought back into the light due to the #MeToo movement, and with Polanski seemingly blacklisted from Hollywood, the inclusion at Venice stands out even more.

READ MORE: Venice Film Festival Signs Pledge To Adopt Policies For Gender Parity In Light Of Recent Backlash

As Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, simply tweeted, “1 rapist. 2 women directors in competition #Venezia76. What else am I missing?”

Obviously, this isn’t the last time this discussion will happen over the next month, as we prepare for the prestigious event. Barbera was notably defiant last year when presented with the controversy, so it’ll be interesting to see how the festival treats this year’s headlines.

The Venice FIlm Festival begins on August 28.

1 rapist. 2 women directors in competition #Venezia76. What else am I missing?

— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) July 25, 2019

Two women directors out of 21, and the red carpet rolled out for Roman Polanski. Great work, Venice ???? https://t.co/P8kCKWRRZ2

— Anita Singh (@anitathetweeter) July 25, 2019

Whatever the quality of the films turns out to be, this year's Venice is a disgrace when it comes to representation. https://t.co/BZyB3WsUBi

— Finn Halligan (@finnhalligan) July 25, 2019

Even Editors On Wikipedia Are Debating About The Snyder Cut

Three Possible Reasons Why Maverick Is Still A Captain In The Top Gun Sequel

Quentin Tarantino Finally Answers: ‘Is Kill Bill One Movie Or Two?'

Another Rocky Movie Is In The Works, And Sylvester Stallone Already Knows The Plot

Scarlett Johansson Sidesteps Question About Hawkeye In The Black Widow Movie

Stephen Colbert Dissects Robert Mueller’s Six-Hour Tour & That “Gangster Nickname”

Like millions of Americans and other Earthlings, Stephen Colbert watched Robert Mueller’s double-duty congressional testimony today. Unlike most people, Colbert has a network TV show. Cue his postgame analysis on The Late Show tonight.

Early on during the monologue, the CBS late-night host revealed that he indeed learned something new today — that the former special counsel has “a gangster nickname.” After playing a clip in which said not-new moniker gleaned from his being named Robert Mueller III was mentioned, Colbert went into a bad accent and said: “Ehhh, not for nuthin’, but Bobby Three Sticks is keepin’ an eye on Big Donny Fish Lips, head of the Trumpino crime family. Rumor has it that Donny Fish Lips is in cahoots with Vladdie No Short.”

Colbert went on to poke fun at Mueller’s testimony that Donald Trump refused to be interviewed by the special counsel’s office — his excuse: “mouth spurs” — and the fact that the report did not exonerate the president. Like many in the Twitterverse, Colbert dissected Mueller’s choice of the word “exclupated,” asking, “Did your graddaughter give you a Word of the Day calendar? Come on!”

Watch an excerpt from The Late Show monologue here:

‘The Daily Show’ And Trevor Noah Dig A Little Deeper Into Robert Mueller’s Testimony

The Daily Show cast and host Trevor Noah joined the rest of the nation today to watch former special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress.

While Mueller answered innumerable questions about this years-long investigation, he didn’t quite get to everything that everyone wanted to know, particularly when it came to HBO’s Game of Thrones and that Cats trailer that lit up social media.

So it remains for The Daily Show to ask what’s on everyone’s mind tonight, perhaps finally putting to rest the long national nightmare that the special investigation has created.

Watch the videos below for what you might have missed during today’s event:

‘The Sopranos’: HBO Boss On Rebooting Iconic Drama Following Prequel Movie

SAG-AFTRA Unveils Roster Of Candidates For National Office

SAG-AFTRA has released the official line-up of national officer candidates in its upcoming election. For president, incumbent Gabrielle Carteris will face off against Matthew Modine, head of the Membership First opposition slate; actor/stuntman Abraham Justice; and Queen Alljahye Searles, who describes herself on Twitter as an “Entertainment Industry Professional-Teacher-Mother-Accountant-Entrepreneur-Gourmet Culinary Artist-Writer.”

The candidates for national secretary-treasurer are Jodi Long, running on the opposition slate; Camryn Manheim, running on Carteris’ Unite for Strength slate; New England-based actor Chuck Slavin; and actor/stuntman Rob Stats.

Some 45 national board seats are up for election this year, along with all local officer, local board, and convention delegate positions. The guild’s executive vice president and other vice presidents will be elected at the SAG-AFTRA Convention in October.

National officer ballots will be mailed to all eligible SAG-AFTRA members nationwide on July 29, with a return deadline and tabulation on August 28.

The same schedule will apply to the Los Angeles and New York Local elections. Schedules vary for other local elections.

HBO Boss Mum On ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Timeline, Won’t Rule Out More Offshoot Greenlights

HBO officially entered the post-Game Of Thrones era in May when the mega hit fantasy drama ended its eight-season run.

A prequel, starring Naomi Watts, is a pilot, which recently wrapped production and is being edited.

Asked by Deadline in May whether a 2020 premiere for the prequel series is possible, he said, “Having it on the air a year later feels a little rushed, but it’s too soon to tell.”

Two months later, Bloys remained noncommittal. “We haven’t seen a cut. I’m excited but no timeline yet,” he told Deadline at TCA today. As for what he has seen of the pilot, “the cast looks really, really good; it’s exciting,” he said.

Set thousands of years before the mothership show, the prequel will feature “some references” to the events and characters from the Emmy-winning series but “no direct references”

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And if the pilot is picked up to series as expected, it will have the same home as the original GOT and won’t be on the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming platform HBO Max.

“There are no plans to have it anywhere else but on HBO,” Bloys said.

Author George R.R. Martin a couple of months ago teased on his blog that three of the Game of Thrones offshoots, including the prequel pilot, are moving “nicely” at HBO. Bloys would not comment on the status of the other prequels. “I want see how this one goes,” he said.

Is there a possibility for another GOT universe green light by the end of the year? “It’s something I would not comment on,” Bloys said.

Back in May, Bob Greenblatt, Chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer, addressed the possibility of putting more than one GOT followup series on the air.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he told Deadline. “The answer is yes, we’re having conversations about how do we smartly continue the Game of Thrones universe, but we have to be really thoughtful about not killing the golden goose and not putting on shows that aren’t up to that quality level, and how many is too many. We’re having all those conversations. I don’t know yet what will come of all this material, but I think they’ve been smartly developing things that were really good ideas in this universe, and George Martin is involved.”

‘Los Espookys’ Renewed For Season 2 By HBO

EXCLUSIVE: HBO has ordered a second season of Los Espookys, its half-hour primarily Spanish-language comedy series from Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen and Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video.

Created and written by Armisen, Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres, the series is set in a strange and dreamy version of a present-day Latin American country and follows a group of friends turning their love for horror into a peculiar business.

“It’s a really fun, original, delightful show,” HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys told Deadline at TCA.

Fabrega and Torres star along with Cassandra Ciangherotti,  Bernardo Velasco and Armisen.

Armisen, Michaels, Andrew Singer and Alice Mathias executive produce; Fabrega, Torres and Nate Young co-executive produce. Fernando Frias directed the entire first season. The series is produced by Broadway Video in association with Antigravico, Más Mejor and the Oscar-winning Chilean production company Fabula.

‘The Righteous Gemstones’: Holy Roller Comedy Not A ‘Takedown Of Religion’, Danny McBride Says – TCA

HBO’s Casey Bloys On Future Of Cinemax Amid Subscriber Loss: ‘Anything Is On the Table’

At their earnings this morning, AT&T reported subscriber decreases for HBO. Asked about the decline during the network’s executive session at TCA, President of Programming Casey Bloys was quick to point out that the losses were for Home Box Office, which includes HBO as well as Cinemax, and it was Cinemax which had bled subscribers after being de-packaged from HBO by some MVPDs, while HBO’s subscriber base had actually expanded.

The development raises an alarm for the future of HBO’s sister network, which entered original primetime programming a decade ago and a couple of years ago switched to adrenalized, action series, most of them lower-cost international co-productions like Strike Back. 

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Asked by Deadline about changes in the programming strategy for Cinemax shortly after he joined the company in the spring, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt said, “I think Cinemax is going to stay what it has been. It’s a service that’s really well distributed, and I think some of the shows that have come out of there have been really great and have a distinct personality from HBO proper. I think it’s just going to continue the way it has been.”

But with Cinemax’s distribution getting significantly impaired by its de-packaging from famous sibling HBO, that may change.

“It is still status quo but the environment is definitely changing,” HBO Programming President Casey Bloys told Deadline at TCA this afternoon. “It’s an ongoing discussion about what makes the most sense for Cinemax. I don’t know but obviously it doesn’t help when it’s been de-packaged.”

As for original series on Cinemax, “we will have original programming through 2020,” Bloys said. “I don’t know the answer to what the future looks like; it’s something that we are talking about.”

Is there a possibility for Cinemax to revert to being just a repurposing platform for HBO?

“Anything is possible – more programming, less programming, more movies,” Bloys said. “At this point anything is on the table.”

Casey Bloys On ‘Game Of Thrones’ Creators’ Post-HBO Future & Fate Of ‘Confederate’

Game Of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have been shopping a giant global overall deal. They have not landed yet but the signs point to a new home for the hot duo after almost a decade at HBO, likely at one of the big streamers.

“Any place that they end up at would be lucky to have them,” HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys told Deadline at TCA. “I want talent to make as much money as they can.”

As for Benioff and Weiss’ controversial slavery drama series Confederate, which had been greenlighted but on the back burner at HBO while they were finishing Game of Thrones, “I think anything they have with us would likely not go forward” once the pair signs an overall deal elsewhere, Bloys said.

HBO Programming Chief On ‘Chernobyl’ Follow-Up & More Nights Of Original Programming – TCA

A 1980s tale of a nuclear disaster behind the Iron Curtain became an unlikely global phenomenon and a ratings juggernaut. Anchoring a new night of original programming for HBO on Mondays, the Chernobyl limited series grew its ratings every week. Its viewership has surpassed 12 million to become the most watched HBO limited or miniseries since Band of Brothers.

Given Chernobyl‘s success, which includes 19 Emmy nominations, it is not surprising there has been chatter about HBO mulling another historical miniseries with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and executive producers Carolyn Strauss and Jane Featherstone.

“We have a deal with Craig, and he is thinking about a lot of things,” HBO president of programming Casey told Deadline at TCA on Wednesday. “Obviously he has an interest in history but we are not looking to make a franchise out of it. There is no plans to specifically find another manmade or natural disaster and talk about it. But if he says, ‘I really want to explore this’, and there is a really good story there, an important story, we would be open to it. Anything he gets excited about I would get excited about.”

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Chernobyl was a co-production between HBO and Sky. With the British satcaster now owned by Comcast, would it continue to be a viable co-production partner for HBO?

“We have had good  experiences with Sky and BBC; we know the executives there, they work with talent we like; we sent them Chernobyl, they sent us Catherine the Great,” Bloys said. “I imagine both will continue.”

After successfully expanding beyond Sunday to a second night of executive programming with Chernobyl (HBO also has originals on Friday), the network is not rushing to expand its programming footprint further.

“I think for the near future, two nights is probably what we could handle,” Bloys said, noting the resources for programming and marketing such a ramp-up would involve. “I don’t see a third night on the horizon.”

HBO plans to do around 160-165 hours of original programming in 2020, up from 150 this year. The slow expansion allows to “keep the quality for the rest of 2019, 20 and even into 21,” he said.

Peter White contributed to this report.

Hulu Developing New ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’ Series With Carlton Cuse & ‘Wonder Woman’ Writer

Despite being one of the most beloved sci-fi novels of all time, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” has really failed to make the jump into live-action. The 2005 film of the same name seemed to have a decent cast and was able to grasp the humorous tone of the novel, but just didn’t connect with audiences, failing to make enough at the box office to sequel more entries. Well, since it’s 2019 and good, available IP is hard to find, Hulu has apparently decided to tackle Douglas Adams’ novel one more time.

Deadline is reporting that Hulu has agreed to develop a series based on the classic novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” co-created by Carlton Cuse and Jason Fuchs. The series will obviously follow the intergalactic adventures of Arthur Dent, a human that has escaped Earth before it was destroyed by the Vogons.

READ MORE: Seemingly Cursed ‘Locke & Key’ TV Show Gets Series Order From Netflix

As mentioned, ‘Hitchhiker’s’ comes from the minds of Cuse, who is probably best known for his work on the hit series “Lost.” He’s also the man behind the upcoming Netflix series “Locke & Key,” which has seen development start and stop numerous times over the years.

Fuchs is probably best known as the writer of 2017’s superhero hit “Wonder Woman,” but has also written the films “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” “I Still See You,” and the upcoming “Luna Park.” He’s also an actor in his own right.

READ MORE: ‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’ Trailer: Hulu Adapts The True Story Of One Of Rap’s Biggest Groups In A New Series

No word on a release date or casting for the series. Clearly, this will be a project with many fans eagerly anticipating each word, so there’s already some expectations riding on Cuse and Fuchs’ series before a frame is filmed. That being said, it’s likely that “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” finds itself better suited for TV adaptation than the feature film route, anyway.

‘Batman’ Producer Defends Robert Pattinson Casting & Asks Fans To “Trust The Filmmaker”

After months and months of speculation, earlier this year, we found out that Robert Pattinson has been cast as the lead character in the upcoming ‘Batman’ reboot film. And as you might expect in 2019 whenever big news like this is announced, people began furiously debating the idea of “the guy from ‘Twilight’” becoming the Dark Knight. But one of the film’s producers just wants everyone to relax a moment and trust in the decision.

‘Batman’ producer Michael Uslan recently spoke at Germany’s CCXP Cologne convention (via Comicbook.com) and discussed the addition of Pattinson to the cast of director Matt Reeves’ upcoming superhero film.

READ MORE: Forget Batman, Danny Boyle Thinks Robert Pattinson Would Be A Great James Bond

“My position is this: trust the filmmaker and give the filmmaker, and the filmmaker’s vision, the benefit of the doubt. Then wait ’til you see the movie,” Uslan said.

“The star of the ‘Batman’ movies is Bruce Wayne. Batman is the star,” the producer said. “Batman is who everyone wants to see, along with the supervillains, so how does a filmmaker make the choice of which actor to cast? And I think the real key question for fans, and for all of us to focus on, is the filmmaker.”

He added, ““So we’ve seen the genius of Tim Burton, we have seen the genius of Christopher Nolan. The question becomes: is there a filmmaker who you see has a knowledge of a character, has an understanding of a character, a passion and a love for the character? Does that filmmaker have a vision for the character? And if so, does he or she, do you believe, know how to execute that vision? And if you can answer those questions successfully, then for me, my role is to become the world’s number one cheerleader. And you have to trust in your filmmakers.”

READ MORE: ‘Batman’ Casting Process Happened Fast & Reportedly Only Included Pattinson & Hoult (Sorry, Armie Hammer!)

Uslan goes on to talk about how casting controversies have been part of the ‘Batman’ films dating back to the hiring on Michael Keaton for the 1989 film. Every time there has been a big hire for the lead role, there has been controversy. Even when an actor turns in an Oscar-winning performance, such as Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight,” Uslan encouraged everyone to remember that at the time of the actor’s hiring, people were concerned about a “gay cowboy” playing the part (referencing Ledger’s role in “Brokeback Mountain”).

Of course, much of the debate around Pattinson’s casting seems to come from people in two camps — those who have only seen him in the ‘Twilight’ films and those who have watched his most recent, acclaimed indie work, such as in “Good Time.”

Either way, we’re still about two years away from Reeves’ ‘Batman’ film hitting theaters on June 25, 2021.

Noah Baumbach Cites Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’ As Inspiration For ‘Marriage Story’ As More Images Are Released

With yesterday’s lineup announcement from the Toronto International Film Festival, film fans were finally given more information about what filmmaker Noah Baumbach has been working on. For months, his latest project was only known as “untitled Noah Baumbach film,” but now, thanks to the festival, we know that his latest is called “Marriage Story” and stars none other than Scarlett Johansson and frequent collaborator, Adam Driver.

READ MORE: TIFF 2019 Line-up: New Films By Rian Johnson, Steven Soderbergh, Safdie Brothers, Noah Baumbach & ‘The Joker’ Lands A North American Premiere

The upcoming drama tells the story of a dissolving marriage between a playwright and his actress wife, who are involved in a bitter divorce battle regarding the custody of their son. “Marriage Story” is Baumbach’s first film since the 2017 film “The Meyerowitz Stories,” which much like his latest, will be released courtesy of Netflix.

While many might immediately think of “Kramer vs. Kramer” when coming up with the iconic divorce films, the filmmaker said, in a new interview with IndieWire, he does “love” that film but his influences were more diverse than just that classic. Baumbach specifically mentioned a couple of comedies that were influential for how he wrote the dynamic between partners, Ernst Lubitsch’s “To Be or Not to Be” and Howard Hawks’ “Twentieth Century.”

“Both of those movies have performers who are in personal relationships in and out of their work,” he said. “What helped with this family is that because they’re show people, the theatricality of it all feels organic to them. This gave me a real opportunity in what would otherwise be considered a naturalistic movie.”

READ MORE: TIFF 2019 First Looks: Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman & Antonio Banderas Lead ‘The Laundromat,’ Eddie Murphy Is ‘Dolemite’ & More

Another film that influenced “Marriage Story” doesn’t have anything to do with the plot, but more with the craftsmanship — Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona.”

“I knew I wanted a lot of closeups in this movie. It’s a movie where you often have two people in a space together, and I loved how he would frame those actresses,” said Baumbach.

As mentioned, “Marriage Story” debuts at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and will arrive on Netflix after.

You can also see some new pictures from Baumbach’s film below:

Quentin Tarantino: The Essential Films Retrospective

Most directors, no matter how prolific or well-regarded by their peers they eventually become, rarely achieve rock-star celebrity status. Even today’s most respected auteurs are only seldom regarded outside of die-hard film-lover circles and the requisite awards show circus that comes at the end of the year. Quentin Tarantino, however, is unlike any living director today, bar maybe Scorsese, Fincher, and a handful of others.

READ MORE: The Best Films Of 2019… So Far

In the early 1990s, Tarantino changed all of that with a little movie called “Pulp Fiction” (though “Reservoir Dogs” paved the way). A talky, non-linear, convention-breaking L.A. mosaic and hangout movie, “Pulp Fiction” was a genuine paradigm shift: one of the most influential movies of the decade, perhaps of all time. Audiences had never seen anything like it before: the brash amorality, the dialogue so indelible you wanted to quote it to your friends, the shocking bursts of violence, the hypodermic needle scene, etc. It remains one of the touchstones of the ’90s, and also perhaps Quentin Tarantino’s unofficial arrival as one of the most important directors of his generation.

READ MORE: Ranked: Quentin Tarantino’s 50 Best Characters

Tarantino’s filmography since then has been an eclectic and electric thing to witness and savor: he’s put his own strange, loving spin on his favorite movie genres (Westerns, WWII movies, claustrophobic single-location thrillers) and given us some genuine masterpieces, as well as some efforts that fall just a bit short of that lofty status. Even when a Q.T. movie fails to achieve perfection, it’s never uninteresting – and it is most certainly never boring– and it’s always an event that Hollywood and the industry braces for.

READ MORE: The Lost, Unmade & Possible Future Films Of Quentin Tarantino

Before the release of his star-studded new Tinseltown epic and ode to moviemaking, “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie (our review from Cannes, here), here’s a retrospective look at the highs and lows of Quentin Tarantino’s massive, unassailable filmography.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019

“Reservoir Dogs”
This is where it all began folks: the ironic pop-music needle drops, the jarring moments of ultraviolence, the deliciously loquacious criminal dialogue… all of it. “Reservoir Dogs” is one of the great movies of the 90’s: a damn-near-perfect amalgam of black comedy, splatter-movie gore, effortless cool, and career-best performances from the likes of Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth. Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut was a film that demanded he be noticed, though his sophomore follow-up, “Pulp Fiction,” was a bonafide cultural sensation that took the moviegoing world by storm (more on that one in a moment). The thieves in “Reservoir Dogs” aren’t tortured, stoic professionals like the characters in a Michael Mann movie. They’re veritable chatterboxes: crooks with color-coded names given to waxing rhapsodic about everything from Silver Surfer comics to Madonna lyrics. They’re also a vicious bunch, and they’ll blow you to bits if you stand in their way. This is particularly true of Michael Madsen’s sinister Mr. Blonde, responsible for the notorious ear-severing scene that even those who haven’t seen this movie have probably watched somewhere on YouTube. From its iconic opening scene, in which Steve Buscemi’s acerbic Mr. Pink defends his right not to tip servers, to its blood-soaked, apocalyptic finish, “Reservoir Dogs” is one hell of a ride. The film is boosted in no small regard by lived-in, ineffaceable supporting turns from the likes of the late Chris Penn, cult movie legend Laurence Tierney, and revered crime novelist Eddie Bunker, not to mention characteristically note-perfect soundtrack cues like “Little Green Bag” by the George Baker Selection, and a grotesque, immortal use of “Stuck in the Middle with You” by Stealer’s Wheel. [A].

READ MORE: ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’: Quentin Tarantino’s Entertaining Nostalgia Piece Brashly Breaks Its Own Woozy Spell [Cannes Review]

“Pulp Fiction”
It’s become somewhat popular among pop culture contrarians to dismiss the success of “Pulp Fiction” as a mostly generational phenomenon. Anytime a film is this popular, this brilliant, this influential, there are bound to be legions of movie lovers who resent its very existence. And yet, even twenty-five years after its premiere, there’s no denying that “Pulp Fiction” belongs on a very short list (along with “Goodfellas,” “Fargo,” “Boogie Nights,” and “Trainspotting”) as one of the all-time great ’90s movies. The film is an explosive and exuberant ride: a cocktail of perversity, profanity, and unabashed cinephilia. It’s hard to say anything about a movie that’s been written to death in nearly every corner of the filmgoing world, but we’ll say this: even if you disagree that “Pulp Fiction” is Mr. Tarantino’s finest hour, it’s undoubtedly the movie he’ll be remembered for when we consider his legacy in the decades to come. The film contains career-best performances from pretty much everyone in its cast: Samuel L. Jackson as a jheri-curled, philosophical hitman, John Travolta as his mumbly, heroin-addicted partner, and Bruce Willis as a pugilist who throws a big fight, certainly, but also Eric Stoltz as a chatty smack dealer, Uma Thurman as a vampy gangster’s moll, and Harvey Keitel as a dapper criminal fixer known as The Wolf. The film’s alchemy of self-aware gallows humor and sickening violence would prove to be one of the most influential recipes of the 1990s, inspiring an onslaught of inferior knockoffs that continued well into the early-to-mid 2000s. While it’s understandable that some may begrudge the film for how easy it became to copy, there’s no underplaying just how visionary this bold new style seemed at the time. After all, if it wasn’t for “Pulp Fiction” – well, we probably wouldn’t be sharing this list with you, now would we? [A]

‘The Mountain’ Exclusive Clip: Jeff Goldblum Smokes A Pipe & Dictates His Work In This Glimpse Of Rick Alverson’s Acclaimed Drama

Rick Alverson has never been a filmmaker that could be misconstrued as mainstream. His work is usually packed with detail, experimental structure, and unique dialogue. But his most recent work, “The Mountain,” might be his most, dare I say, mainstream work to date.

In honor of Alverson’s latest drama, “The Mountain,” finally hitting theaters later this week, we’re thrilled to be able to give our readers a chance to watch an exclusive clip from the film, which not only hints at the filmmaker’s unique abilities, but also shows just how majestic Jeff Goldblum is in just about every project he’s attached to.

READ MORE: Rick Alverson’s ‘The Mountain’ Is A Shimmeringly Surreal Work With Incredible Performances [Venice Review]

For those not familiar, “The Mountain” tells the story of a young photographer and a lobotomist that tour the country in 1950s America. Through their journey, they encounter various asylum patients, as well as a New Age healer that requests the mind-altering procedure for his daughter. And considering Goldblum portrays the lobotomist, who finds his life and career unraveling, there’s plenty of room for the actor to steal scene after scene. As seen in the clip, it’s clear that Goldblum does just that.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2019 We’ve Already Seen

The film stars Goldblum alongside Tye Sheridan and Hannah Gross. “The Mountain” is written and directed by Rick Alverson. The acclaimed filmmaker has been a festival favorite, with previous films premiering at Sundance and SXSW. “The Mountain” had its debut at last year’s Venice International Film Festival.

READ MORE: Summer Movie Preview: 35 Films You Shouldn’t Miss

We saw the film during that festival, and our review described the film as “Lanthimos meets Roy Andersson meets a heavy dose of lithium.” We also ranked the film among the Best 2019 films that have yet to be released.

“The Mountain” arrives this Friday in select theaters.

Here’s the film’s synopsis, as well as the exclusive clip and trailer:

1950s America. Since his mother’s confinement to an institution, Andy has lived in the shadow of his stoic father. A family acquaintance, Dr. Wallace Fiennes, employs the introverted young man as a photographer to document an asylum tour advocating for his increasingly controversial lobotomy procedure. As the tour progresses and Andy witnesses the doctor’s career and life unravel, he begins to identify with the institutions’ patients. Arriving at a California mountain town, a growing center of the New Age movement, they encounter an unconventional French healer who requests a lobotomy for his own daughter, Susan.

‘Blade Runner’ Star Rutger Hauer Dies At Age 75

The man who gave film fans one of the most iconic moments ever committed to celluloid has passed away. On July 19, Rutger Hauer died after a brief illness, according to Variety. He was only 75.

A star of dozens of films, Hauer is probably best known for his role in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece, “Blade Runner.” Playing the villain Roy Batty, the Dutch actor gave perhaps the best performance in the entire film, culminating in a monologue that will likely go down as one of the best ever.

Of course, Hauer wasn’t only in “Blade Runner,” and during his career, he experienced incredible highs, with roles in films like “The Hitcher,” “Escape from Sobibor” (earning him a Golden Globe), “Nighthawks,” “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Batman Begins,” and “Hobo with a Shotgun.” The latter of which brought a whole new generation to Hauer, as the Sundance film found a cult audience thanks to its grindhouse sensibilities.

READ MORE: Rutger Hauer Says ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Has “No Humor, No Love, No Soul”

Most recently, Hauer was seen in the acclaimed film “The Sisters Brothers.” And he actually has one more film that has yet to be released, the fantasy feature “Viy 2: Journey to China,” which co-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan.

The actor also landed several major TV roles, including work on the TV series “True Blood,” as well as the 2015 musical series “Galavant.” Before his passing, Hauer was also in the miniseries “A Christmas Carol,” where he plays the Ghost of Christmas Future. That is expected to air this December on FX and BBC. It was produced by Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free.

Hauer’s work off screen is perhaps just as valuable as in films and TV. He was an environmentalist, and also the founder of the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, which is an AIDS awareness charity.

Here’s the aforementioned “Blade Runner” scene:

Jonathan Nolan Explains How ‘Blade Runner’ Influenced ‘Westworld’ Season 3

HBO’s “Westworld” took the stage at the recent San Diego Comic-Con to present the first real look at Season 3 of Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s high concept, mind-bending, sci-fi phenomenon. The trailer, which seemingly introduced us to the world outside of the park also clued us in on a WWII setting and the return of Ed Harris’s Man in Black. 

As Season 1 was titled “The Maze” and Season 2 titled “The Door,” the title for Season 3 will be “The New World” – an appropriate subtitle given the direction the show is headed, however, when asked whether or not the show has, in fact, left the park, Jonathan Nolan responded with “I didn’t say that” perhaps alluding to some major surprises this season will have in store for us.

READ MORE: ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Trailer: The Mind-Altering Show Plays Outside The Park [Comic-Con]

One of the more striking elements about the footage we’ve seen thus far is how distinctly different the visual palate is when compared to most other dystopian sci-fi worlds. Nolan mentioned an unsurprising story about his brother Chris that gave him a clue about how not to approach the world of “Westworld.”

“My brother made me watch ‘Blade Runner’ maybe once a week, kind of a weird thing, but no, it’s a phenomenal movie,” said Nolan. “That movie is such a brilliantly designed and produced film and when you think of what the future looks like you think of that film. And we wanted to find something a bit different because we got ‘Blade Runner’ set in 2019 and we got there and it doesn’t look like that, but the thing about dystopias is it can look pretty beautiful.”

He continued, “Just because the world is corrupt on the inside doesn’t mean it can’t be smoothed over and pretty on the outside. So we wanted to find ourselves a version of a dystopia that didn’t look like anything we’d seen before. And we’ve been kind of planning this from the beginning. We were writing the pilot trying to figure out how are we going to shoot season 3? And the answer was rather than building it because that’s one option, we went looking for it. We got on a plane and we flew around and we dragged all these lovely people all over the place and we found some pretty rad stuff.”

READ MORE; ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Will Be A “Radical Shift” According To Showrunners

“Westworld” has always been a show that comments on the state of our world and its relationship with technology. In Season 3, fans can expect more of the same as “The New World” seeks to follow the logical progression of themes posed in seasons prior ultimately landing upon the concept of algorithmic determinism.

“One of the big themes of Season 3 is going to be algorithmic determinism,” said Nolan, to which the showrunner proceeded to expound upon. “I think we’re actually entering the age of artificial stupidity. We’re in low, low-grade kind of algorithmic world and this is one of the concepts that we started talking about when we were looking at this season. Trying to figure out what the rest of the world looks like, if indeed that is where the show is, and one of the things that’s happening is ‘the Netflix effect.'”

He added, “Netflix tells you what you want to watch next because there’s some giant algorithm in the sky, that watches what you watch, and decides you’re going to watch a manga for the rest fo the night. So just picture that applied to every part of your whole life. And that kind of feels like the world. Like when you talk to technologists, they talk about algorithmic determinism, in quiet kind of hush terms because they know who we’ve already built it. We’re already kind of in there.”

READ MORE: Jonathan Nolan Says His Brother Chris Turned Down Song Idea He Had For One Of The ‘Batman’ Trailers

Needless to say, Season 3 is sure to give us plenty to chew on as we search for answers and admire its thoughtfulness from week to week. It’s a massive draw for audiences and that draw hasn’t gone unnoticed by Joy and Nolan.

“One of the great things about this show is you get to play around with these big ideas and present them to the audience as if they’re far in the future, but they’re not,” said Nolan. “ They’re kind of right now, and one of the fun things about the third season is we discard the idea of metaphor and just deal with the world for what it is, which is a giant shit show.”

Leave it to a Nolan to put it so adequately. While no set release date, “Westworld” Season 3 is set to air in early 2020.

‘Playmobil’ Trailer: Daniel Radcliffe & Anya Taylor-Joy Bring The Children’s Toys To Life In New Film

Apparently, no toy empire can resist the cash cow of an animated movie adaptation. Next up to bat is Playmobil and its myriad toys. In the new trailer for “Playmobil: The Movie,” the film seems to be positioned as a kid-friendly spy thriller. Rex Dasher (Daniel Radcliffe) is a world-class super spy investigating a top-secret organization causing people from different lands to disappear. Civilians Del (Jim Gaffigan) and Marla (Anya-Taylor Joy) are recruited to assist Rex in his mission.

This whole spy motif absolutely screams Playmobil, right?

READ MORE: ‘Playmobil: The Movie’ Trailer: Nope, This Is Definitely Not A Cynical Cash Grab Influenced By ‘LEGO’ Success

Curiously, a synopsis that does not follow the plot laid out in the trailer has been floating around the internet: “When her younger brother disappears into the colorful and animated world of Playmobil, Marla is forced to abandon her organized and structured life to rescue him. Finding herself on an incredible and unpredictable adventure within this new world, Marla begins to see potential she never dreamed of.” 

Hmmm….an animated movie about popular toys featuring a connection to the real world. Does this remind anyone of a certain animated film focused on toy building blocks?

Anya Taylor-Joy, Kenan Thompson, Meghan Trainor, and Adam Lambert can also be heard in the “Playmobil: The Movie” cast.

Although it does not mention the real-world tie in, here is the official synopsis:

In Playmobil’s animated action-adventure, a top-secret organization has caused citizens from different lands to vanish from thin air. The dashing and charismatic secret agent Rex Dasher (Daniel Radcliffe) must partner with smooth-talking food truck driver Del (Jim Gaffigan) and Marla (Anya Taylor-Joy) a smart, savvy civilian with her own secret agenda, to rescue them. Against unthinkable odds, the trio goes on a fantastic journey across stunning new worlds as they gather clues for their rescue mission.

“Playmobil: The Movie” is expected to hit theaters November 22. Take a look at the new trailer below.

Jennifer Lawrence To Team With Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino On Crime Film ‘Mob Girl’

When Jennifer Lawrence isn’t starring in huge franchise films like “Hunger Games” or the various ‘X-Men’ projects, she’s seemingly always attached to a film with an acclaimed filmmaker. Whether it’s with David O. Russell, Darren Aronofsky, or someone else, Lawrence peppers in interesting, smaller films amongst her big-budget spectacle. And according to a new report, she’s set to do that again with filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino.

According to The Wrap, Lawrence has signed on to star in the new film “Mob Girl,” which will be directed by Sorrentino. The film is based on the true-crime novel “Mob Girl: A Woman’s Life in the Underworld” from author Teresa Carpenter about Arlyne Brickman, a mob wife that ended up becoming a police informant. “Mob Girl” will be adapted by Angelina Burnett, who is probably best known for her work on “Halt and Catch Fire,” as well as “The Americans.”

READ MORE: David O. Russell Confirms He’s “Writing Something” For Jennifer Lawrence To Star In

In addition to starring, Lawrence will produce alongside Justine Polsky, representing Excellent Cadaver, Sorrentino and Wildside’s Lorenzo Mieli, as well as the studio Makeready.

Makeready founder and CEO Brad Weston said, “Seeing this story from a woman’s point of view is a fresh and exciting approach to telling a classic mob story. We could not imagine a more perfect team of stellar filmmakers, with Jennifer starring in a tour de force role and Paolo at the helm, to bring Arlyne’s strength and unique perspective to life on screen.”

Lawrence is currently in production on an untitled film from filmmaker Lila Neugebauer. She’s also attached to play Elizabeth Holmes in the upcoming Adam McKay film “Bad Blood.” Most recently, she was briefly seen in the film “Dark Phoenix.”

READ MORE: ‘Loro’ Trailer: Paolo Sorrentino Tells The Story Of An Egomaniacal Billionaire That Gains Political Power…In Italy

Sorrentino is best known, recently, for his HBO series “The Young Pope.” He’s also set to release “Loro” later this year.

There’s no release date set for “Mob Girl.”

Here’s the synopsis:

Growing up among racketeers on the Lower East Side of New York City, Arlyne Brickman associated with mobsters. Drawn to the glamorous and flashy lifestyle, she was soon dating “wiseguys” and running errands for them; but after years as a mob girlfriend, Arlyne began to get in on the action herself–eventually becoming a police informant and major witness in the government’s case against the Colombo crime family.

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WGA West Officer And Board Candidates Include Supporters And Opponents Of Guild’s Stance Vs. Agencies

The final list of candidates in the WGA West’s upcoming election has been unveiled, giving members a clear choice between supporters and opponents of the guild’s current course in its 102-day standoff with Hollywood’s talent agencies. New board candidates include high-profile names like Power‘s Courtney Kemp, the Arrowverse’s Marc Guggenheim, The Affair‘s Sarah Treem and Wonder Woman’s Jason Fuchs. Ballots won’t be counted until September 16.

As previously reported, incumbent president David A. Goodman, one of the leaders of the guild’s attempts to realign the agency business, will face two challengers opposed to the guild’s hardline strategy: Phyllis Nagy and William Schmidt.

Nagy, who’s been one of the most outspoken members opposed to the direction the guild has taken, is teamed with Craig Mazin, who’s running for vice president, and Nick Jones, Jr., who’s running for secretary-treasurer.

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The two other candidates for vice president are Carl Gottlieb and incumbent Marjorie David, both of whom were selected to run by the guild’s nominating committee. David is a member of the guild’s agency negotiating committee, and Gottlieb is a former three-term vp and two-term secretary-treasurer.

The two other candidates for secretary-treasurer are Evette Vargas and Michele Mulroney, who is a member of the agency negotiating committee. They were both selected by the nominating committee.

Twenty-one candidates are vying for eight open seats on the guild’s board of directors, including Nicole Yorkin and Angelina Burnett, who serve on the agency negotiating committee, and Meredith Stiehm, who is a named plaintiff in the guild’s antitrust suit against CAA. Incumbent Luvh Rakhe is also seeking reelection. They all received the endorsement of the nominating committee.

Candidates running by petition include Kemp, Guggenheim, Treem, Fuchs, along with Nicholas Kazan and Ed Herro.

The other board candidates selected by the nominating committee are Alvaro Rodriguez, Rasheed Newson, Liz Alper, Ashley Edward Miller, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Dante W. Harper, Robb Chavis, Chris Roessner, Zoe Marshall, Rob Forman, Mike Mariano and Ayelet Waldman.

Two of the 17 board candidates previously announced are no longer running for the eight open seats: Mazin, who is now up for Vice President, and Mike Mariano.

‘The Code’ Canceled By CBS After One Season

There will be no second season for The Code. CBS has opted not to renew the military drama series from CBS TV Studios and Timberman-Beverly after a modestly rated first season that wrapped last night. Star Dana Delany revealed the series’ fate on Twitter. (You can read her message to fans below.)

CBS in May left undecided the fates of four drama series that premiered in midseason: sophomore Instinct, freshmen The Code and The Red Line and third-year Canadian import Ransom. All but Instinct have now been canceled.

In The Code, written by Limitless creator Craig Sweeny from a story by him and Craig Turk and directed by Marc Webb, the military’s brightest minds take on our country’s toughest challenges – inside the courtroom and out – where each attorney is trained as a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, an investigator, and a Marine.

Likely impacted by the doldrums of summer, the ratings for The Code, which got off to a slow start in April, took a downward turn in July, with last night’s finale hitting a Live+Same Day series low 2.9 million total viewers and a 0.3 adults 18-49 rating.

Sweeny served as executive producer/showrunner. Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman executive produced alongside Webb.

Luke Mitchell, Anna Wood, Ato Essandoh, Phillipa Soo and Raffi Barsoumian also starred.

Thank you to all you wonderful people who watched @TheCodeCBS. Last night was our finale and sadly, no more. I’ll never make General. But I loved this cast of stellar actors & know we’ll meet again. Semper Fidelis. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/kqjcZBTRzo

— Dana Delany (@DanaDelany) July 23, 2019

Nat Geo Boss Courteney Monroe On Its Disney+ Slate, Mary Shelley & Anthology Expectations For ‘Barkskins’ & ‘The Right Stuff’ – TCA

Nat Geo boss Courteney Monroe has opened up about the network’s strategy of balancing its slate of Disney+ originals against its linear commissions, as well as why it abandoned its take on Mary Shelley and its plan to turn Barkskins and The Right Stuff into anthology series.

Nat Geo is responsible for two Disney+ originals — The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Magic of the Animal Kingdom — and Monroe revealed that its Sundance/SXSW documentary Science Fair would premiere on the forthcoming digital platform.

Monroe, president of National Geographic Global Television Networks, told Deadline that Nat Goe has a number of other projects in development for Disney+ and that working with its sister company was a “tremendous opportunity” for its brand.

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“To be one of only five brands to have prominent placement on that platform and to be alongside iconic brands like Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm gives us a tremendous advantage. It’s going to enable us to reach more consumers across every platform,” she said Tuesday at the summer TCA press tour.

Former HBO exec Monroe added that it would not impact the number of originals Nat Geo would debut on its linear network. “So we are producing shows exclusively for Disney+ but that in no way changes our programming strategy or our commitment to the linear channel business so we’re still producing as many hours [for linear]. We’re working really closely with the team from Disney+ to figure out what are the right projects, and we have several more in development. We just look at this as an opportunity to think really broad about our content. They’re all National Geographic shows,” she told Deadline.

Monroe also opened up about its decision to move away from Mary Shelley as its third iteration for its Genius brand. The Shelley story was originally developed but replaced by the story of Aretha Franklin. “We were super excited about Mary Shelley, a fascinating person, but we couldn’t find a way to crack it creatively for an eight- to 10-hour limited series. Our feeling was if we couldn’t do it in an excellent way, then we shouldn’t do it, and that’s what happened. We had it in development but we couldn’t crack it,” she said at the TCA press tour.

She added that Nat Geo hopes its forthcoming dramas Barkskins, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx’s 2016 bestselling novel, and The Right Stuff, which uses Tom Wolfe’s book as its starting point, will be recurring anthology series. Monroe said it was just embarking on this strategy.

“Both of those scripted dramas series, in success, could be recurring shows that extend over multiple seasons with recurring characters,” she said.

Netflix’s ‘When They See Us’ Tops African American Film Critics Association TV Honors List

Ava DuVernay’s Neflix limited series When They See Us picked up a leading four wins Tuesday when the African American Film Critics Association unveiled winners of its inaugural AAFCA TV Honors. The series about the infamous Central Park Five case scored wins for Best Limited Series, Best Ensemble, Best Writing and Breakout Performance for Jharrel Jerome.

Among other winners, Starz’s Power, entering its final season, was named Best Drama, while CBS’ The Neighborhood won Best Comedy.

Winners will be honored August 11 during a private brunch at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, CA, where Ryan Murphy will receive the group’s ICON Award and CBS the Inclusion Award.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Best Drama
Power (Starz)

Best Comedy
The Neighborhood (CBS)

Best Limited Series
When They See Us (Netflix)

Best Performance Female
Angela Bassett (9-1-1) Fox

Best Performance Male
Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) NBC

Best Ensemble
When They See Us (Netflix)

Best Writing
When They See Us (Netflix)

Breakthrough Performance
Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us (Netflix)

AAFCA TV Honors Inclusion Award
CBS

AAFCA TV Honors ICON Award
Ryan Murphy

Paramount Lands Supernatural Thriller Spec From Jacob Chase; Picture Company To Produce

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has acquired an untitled supernatural thriller spec script from writer-director Jacob Chase, who is up for air after wrapping his first feature Larry. Latter is an Amblin Partners thriller based on his short film. Chase will direct the new one for Paramount, and The Picture Company partners Andrew Rona & Alex Heineman will be the producers. They also produced the feature Larry.

The new project’s title is being kept under wraps, but the story revolves around a man with a classified line of work who must take his family on a perilous trip while protecting them from the horror he has in tow. It is an ambitious premise and a step up in scale for Chase, with the combination of a franchise-able lead with a rich mythology.

After Larry went into production within a year of its deal — the film expands a short about a terrifying monster who manifests through high-tech devices like smartphones and other screen devices — Chase sold the spec Infinite to Sony and is an exec producer on several other genre efforts including Amblin’s Whisper and Legendary’s They Hear It.

Paramount’s Ashley Brucks will oversee for the studio. The Picture Company has another horror/thriller in the works at Paramount, Meet Jimmy, a co-production with Platinum Dunes. The company is currently in production on Studiocanal’s Gunpowder Milkshake, and recently set horror short The Blue Door at Amblin.

Chase is repped by Paradigm for directing, manager Nicholas Bogner of Affirmative Entertainment and attorney Eric Feig.

‘Power’ EP Gary Lennon To Produce ‘Meadowland’ Scribe Chris Rossi’s ‘Driver’ Thriller

EXCLUSIVE: Heading into the sixth and final season of Power this summer, executive producer Gary Lennon has added another new move to his dance card with Driver.

The Starz series co-showrunner has teamed up with Christopher Rossi and Authentic Talent & Literary Management to produce the feature thriller, I’ve learned. This is the second collaboration in as many months between the Hightown EP and the others. Back in May, Deadline exclusively revealed that Lennon was set to make his directorial feature debut with the mean streets of 1970s NYC Jerry that he co-wrote with Meadowland scribe Rossi.

Like Jerry, Authentic’s Jennie Frisbie, Mitch Solomon, and Galt Niederhoffer will produce the Rossi written Driver with Lennon and his Street Kids shingle. In the flip of Jerry, Rossi will direct Driver, which tracks the revenge fueled tale of a woman forced to deal with the pain of her past by an unexpected encounter.

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“I have been friends with Chris Rossi for twenty years and I am thrilled that I get to help produce his directorial debut of his fantastic thriller script,” Lennon told Deadline today, just over a month before the Courtney Kemp created Power debuts its final season on August 25. “I am grateful that I can help other writers and directors tell their stories. It is truly fulfilling a need in me to be of service to other writers coming up the ladder of success.”

“Chris Rossi’s elevated thriller poses the question are you defined by your worst act with continued surprises and incisive characters,” added Authentic’s Frisbie, Solomon, and Niederhoffer. “Once again Gary Lennon is choosing to put his considerable talents and energy behind a project that matters. We are thrilled to continue to expand our business with him and Chris.”

An EP on HBO’s recently renewed teen drama Euphoria, Lennon is also an EP and writer on Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Rebecca Cutter’s Cape Cod opioid crisis-based crime drama Hightown. The series is expected to premiere later this year on Starz, where Lennon has had an overall deal since May 2017. Mudbound’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison was announced as Hightown’s director in February.